1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an implement to catch a baseball (hereinafter simply as "glove"), and more particularly to the structure of a thumb stall of a glove.
2. Description of the Background Art
As shown in FIGS. 15A to 15D, a conventional baseball glove is formed by sewing together a ball receiving front leather 16 having five approximately finger-shaped portions, and a back leather 15 having a plurality of leather parts forming five finger stalls. The peripheries of ball receiving front leather 16 and back leather 15 are sewed except for the part to insert a hand such that both the grain sides form the inside, and then it is turned inside out so that the grain sides come outside. This forms the front member.
Then, a palm leather 18 having a smaller size than the front member and five approximately finger-shaped portions and a back leather 17 having a plurality of leather parts to form five finger stalls are sewed together except for the opening to insert a hand such that both grain sides also form the inside. This forms the back member.
At various crucial points of the front member, a padding of felt and other shock absorbers are inserted or wax is applied, followed by impregnation with oil, then the back member is inserted, and then the hand inserting openings of the front and back members are combined with leather laces.
Then, a separately formed ball receiving portion (web portion) is attached between the thumb stall and the index finger stall also with leather laces, and a baseball glove is completed.
When you catch a ball, you grab the ball held between the thumb and other fingers inserted in the stalls.
The opening of the thumb stall of the back member is large and slippery, and Japanese Utility Model Publication Nos.59-9668 and 6-1171 are directed to improvements to this state.
The documents disclose a ling shaped thumb stopper to secure a thumb at the inserting opening of the finger stalls of the back member. Thus, the force of the thumb can be relatively efficiently transmitted. FIG. 16 shows an example of a conventional baseball glove having a thumb stopper 19.
The baseball glove having thumb stopper 19 described above however suffers from the following disadvantage. Since the shape and length of fingers are different among players, and therefore the thumb stopper often does not fit the shape of a player's thumb. As a result, the player often finds the glove disagreeable.
In addition, for children with not so strong force and a weak grip, simply securing a thumb at the thumb stopper is not enough for them to flex the baseball glove, which impedes sure catching, because the baseball glove cannot be completely closed in catching.